Skymark at Avondale, 78 Harrison Garden Blvd: Big Suites and a Club

Skymark at Avondale is the first of Tridel’s two beige Skymark towers on the east side of Yonge, just north of the 401, and it is the one with the biggest suites: condos.ca puts the top of the range at about 3,245 square feet. It shares a two-storey private club with its twin next door, and the fee covers heat, cooling and parking. For buyers leaving a house who do not want to shrink too far, it is one of the few towers in Willowdale I send them to first. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The first of the Skymark twins

Skymark is a two-tower community, and this is phase one. The Globe and Mail reported in 2002 that this 29-storey, 333-suite tower launched in spring 2001 and started construction at the end of that year, with the 31-storey second tower at 80 Harrison Garden following a year behind. Tridel now lists Skymark among its ten most iconic communities, describing the pair as its tall beige twin towers at Yonge and the 401.

The developer field on condos.ca is blank, which confuses some buyers. Tridel’s own material and the 2002 press coverage both name Tridel, with the Globe also naming Hullmark Developments as a partner. That matters, because Tridel buildings of this era tend to hold their value and their reputation on resale.

The two towers are separate condominium corporations: this one is TSCC-1556, registered in November 2003, and the twin is TSCC-1600. Condos.ca lists Del Property Management for both, which usually makes shared operations simpler.

The Skymark Club, and who pays for it

The main thing that sets Skymark apart is the club. The 2002 Globe report described a 30,000-square-foot, two-storey facility shared by both towers, with an indoor pool, a fitness and aerobics area, a virtual golf room, a party room, a home theatre lounge, a spa, and a four-lane five-pin bowling alley. I do not know of another Willowdale building with its own bowling lanes.

That description is more than 20 years old, so treat it as the original plan rather than today’s list. Condos.ca currently shows concierge, a party room, guest suites, a meeting room and a sauna. Walk the club yourself and ask which facilities are open and which have been changed or closed.

A club shared between two corporations is usually governed by a shared facilities agreement, and the cost split between the towers is written into it. Ask for that agreement with the status certificate, and look at what the shared reserve fund expects to spend on the pool, the mechanical systems and the bowling equipment over the next ten years.

Suites sized for people leaving a house

Condos.ca gives a suite range of about 553 to 3,245 square feet. The Globe described two-bedroom plans here of around 1,100 square feet and a three-bedroom penthouse at the top of the range. In a neighbourhood where new towers are mostly selling one-bedrooms under 600 square feet, that is a different product.

Both suites listed when I checked were a two-bedroom and a two-bedroom-plus-den, which fits the pattern. This is a building of larger family and downsizer suites with a smaller number of compact units, not an investor tower.

I could not find the architect or published ceiling heights in any source I checked. Ask for the floor plan of any suite you look at, and check whether the kitchen and bathrooms are original. At 20-plus years, many suites will have been renovated, and the difference in value between an original and a redone suite is real.

Daily life at Yonge and the 401

Harrison Garden Boulevard is a quiet internal street behind the Yonge Street frontage, which takes the edge off the traffic. The trade-off is the highway. Skymark sits just north of the 401, which is excellent for drivers who commute to the airport, Markham or the 404, and less pleasant for south-facing suites that look onto it.

The Yonge and Sheppard tower cluster is to the north, including Tridel’s 2014 Hullmark Centre, which Tridel notes has direct access to Sheppard-Yonge station. Groceries, restaurants and services along Yonge are the reason most owners here rarely need the car during the week.

The transit, schools, parks and food listed in the data panel on this page are worth reading alongside a walk around the block. If noise matters, visit a suite on the side of the building you are considering at rush hour.

Price per square foot, and a fee that covers a lot

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $703 per square foot. That is almost identical to its twin at 80 Harrison Garden (about $704) and a little below Menkes’ Spectrum at 28 Harrison Garden (about $724). On this street, you are not paying much of a premium for the Tridel name, which makes the club a strong value point.

The fee includes air conditioning, common elements, heat, building insurance, parking and water, according to condos.ca. Hydro is the main cost on your own account. When you compare this fee with a newer building that meters heating and cooling by suite and charges separately for parking, add those back before you decide which is cheaper.

Two suites were listed for sale when I checked, asking between $799,999 and $980,000, with monthly fees between $975 and $1,211. Those are large suites, so the dollar fee is high, but the right comparison is total monthly cost against a house or a newer condo of the same size. For recent sale and lease figures, use the data panel or my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Skymark at Avondale

Few buildings in North York offer a two-storey private club with a pool, a theatre lounge and its own bowling lanes. For a retired couple or a family that would otherwise pay for a gym and a pool membership, that has daily value, as long as the facilities are still running the way they were built.

Jatin’s honest take on Skymark at Avondale

Skymark at Avondale — frequently asked questions

Looking at Willowdale, Yonge & Sheppard, Bayview Village and North York Centre more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.